1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to data visualization of commercial, industry and/or economic activity based on intellectual property data using a spatial interface.
A reference herein to “IP” means “intellectual property”.
A reference herein to “IP” includes each type of IP that may be applied for, by at least one applicant, to an administrative body. By way of example only, three types of such IP include patents, trademarks and designs.
A reference herein to an “IP right” includes a reference to an application for an IP right (“IP application”) and, or alternatively, to an IP right that has been granted, issued, registered or otherwise bestowed (“IP grant”).
Throughout this specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “comprise” and variations such as “comprises”, “comprising” and “comprised” are to be understood to imply the presence of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.
Throughout this specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “include” and variations such as “includes”, “including” and “included” are to be understood to imply the presence of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The discussion of the background art, any reference to a document and any reference to information that is known, which is contained in this specification, is provided only for the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the background art to the present invention, and is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of that material forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia or any other country as at the priority date of the application in relation to which this specification has been filed.
Various examples correlating a viewable map with other location data such as event or object locations are known or have been described, where the location of an object or event is displayed as a point or position on a map. An example of this is seen in Google Maps where it is possible to search for restaurants within an area denoted by a displayed map. The restaurants will be shown as a marker that has the appearance of a drop pin. In this arrangement, the viewable map may be moved or scaled, and as the displayed geographical area in the viewable map changes, any new restaurants that come within the changed viewable map area will appear (and restaurants that are no longer within the displayed map area will be no longer shown).
In addition to this, following the earthquakes of 2010 in Christchurch, New Zealand, a website was created known as Canterbury Quake Live which may be accessed at http://quake.crowe.co.nz/. This website featured data gathered in connection with earthquakes. One feature of this website displayed the location of epicenters of earthquakes on a map of Canterbury, New Zealand. Another feature of this website displayed a list of earthquakes with magnitude information, depth and approximate address in one pane, and in another pane, a viewable map was displayed where the location of an earthquake event selected from the list was shown as a marker.
In the field of intellectual property, there are many tools available that allow a user to search for a list of intellectual property rights documents based on various search criteria. However, when dealing with extremely large lists of documents numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands, the ability of a reader to expediently digest and understand their meaning and implications is limited. Whilst technology has become extremely efficient at storing and recording large volumes of data, the ability to interpret and/or extrapolate these volumes of data has not developed at a commensurate rate.
In the correlation of intellectual property rights with a viewable map, U.S. Pat. No. 7,756,848 (GETZOFF) discloses a system that, for a given trademark name and filing date, related cases from a database system are displayed in the form of markers on a viewable map, to show where that trademark was filed. It is also disclosed that the color of the pins could denote the status of the trademark application, or a client's different subsidiaries could be displayed in different colors. Whilst this provides a visual presentation of where a given trademark or list of trademarks of a client has been filed or is registered, it does not provide any understanding of the geographic areas per se.